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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey

A good novel can be enjoyed by those it might not be originally geared for.  Walter Scott was a fan of Jane Austen, including writing an early review of the novel, and I doubt he was her intended audience.  A journal entry written about a decade after she died reflects his sentiment:
Also read again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen’s very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!
Yes, particularly since her family -- down to her mom and sister -- lived much longer lives.  The theme can apply to teen literature, which I at times appreciate, such as the Forever Changes novel recently referenced.  Hunger Games is after all ultimately a novel geared to teens, but not just liked by them.  Margaret Peterson Haddix also is top teen author whose works can be appreciated by authors, including The Always War (involving a usual theme of hers, sci fi) and the book I just read, Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey, labelled also ideal for "reluctant readers."  Such a label was also supplied to First Time, written by Bomb Girls contributor, Meg Tilly.  To cite another short work recently read.

The idea (see also, the link) is that a high school student is writing journal entries for English and the teacher allows people to mark the entries as private and that will count as a submission.  The point being that the student is still writing and all so just what is being written is not necessarily important.  This provides the student here the chance to write various private things about her life, the journal entries being chapters of the book, so to speak.  Early on, she forgets to mark the entry private and the teacher comments on her writing ability and gives words of support regarding the personal issue referenced.  This upsets the student, partially since she (with reason) does not trust people such as peer counselors and the like to be much help.  Also, general teen privacy concerns.

The teacher has to thread a fine line here. Just what are their responsibilities?  They are expected in some degree to respond to student needs, at times required to do so (such as when a clear case of abuse seems apparent), but their general role is after all to be an educator, not a social worker.  But, they still are an important figure in the lives of the student, someone who sees them daily and has some sort of personal relationship with them, at times seeing a side of them (including in their writing) that others might not.  The students' lives also of course affect their education, so cannot be totally avoided on that level.  Also, the school does have some role to play here, including a means to channel things in the students' lives in various ways -- such as sports, clubs or (as here) writing.  All the same, the teacher realizes his/her limitations and it often is best to not try to be "super-teacher," which might be counterproductive in the end even for the best of them.

Of course, teachers know this sort of thing and have to weigh all sort of things while doing their jobs. Such is the task of many professionals, particularly those particularly important to us.  But, the book is not about teachers, or the trouble parents (including the mother) at issue here, though as with Forever Changes or some Disney channel, adult readers like me might sympathize a bit more with adult characters than some, but Tish, a troubled 15/16 year-old. The book realistically [the acknowledgements alludes to real life people who told the author their stories] deals with her rising troubled situation in the voice of her journal entries, a lot of ground covered in only a bit over one hundred pages (about same length as First Time, which in part deals with themes more harshly applied in other Tilly works).

I think teens should like it too, but hey, what do I know?!